Ms. Sampan Panjarat, Secretary-General and Chief of the Training Department at the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC/TD), warmly welcomed Mr. Daniel O. Rittenhouse, Director of the Regional Economic Engagement and Environment Office (REO) at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, along with his delegation, on 1 September 2026. The meeting took place in the SEAFDEC-NACA Meeting Room at the SEAFDEC Secretariat in Bangkok. Discussions focused on key areas for future collaboration, particularly combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and promoting sustainable fisheries management across the region. Photo Activities

SEAFDEC Training Department (SEAFDEC/TD), under the ASEAN-JICA Capacity Building Project on IUU Fishing Countermeasures in Southeast Asia, is organizing the Regional Training on Traceability and Effective Management Tools for Fish and Fishery Products in Southeast Asia from 14 to 16 July 2026 in Bangkok, Thailand. The training brings together 59 participants, including representatives from the ASEAN Member States, the SEAFDEC Secretariat, and SEAFDEC/TD staff. In addition, resource persons from the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST), the Department of Fisheries of Thailand, the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of Indonesia, the Department of Fisheries and Fisheries Surveillance of Viet Nam, and Nissui (Thailand) Co., Ltd. have been invited to share their knowledge, experiences, and lessons learned on traceability systems from national, international, and private-sector perspectives. The training aims to strengthen the capacity of the ASEAN Member States in promoting traceability and applying effective management tools for fish and fishery products....

The SEAFDEC Training Department (SEAFDEC/TD), with support from the Japanese Trust Fund (JTF) under the project “Enhancement of Regional Cooperation and Human Resource Development to Eliminate IUU Fishing,” organized the Regional Training on Introduction and Methodology for Estimating IUU Fishing Losses in Southeast Asia from 16 to 18 June 2026 in Bangkok, Thailand. A total of 34 participants from SEAFDEC Member Countries, the SEAFDEC Secretariat, and the SEAFDEC Training Department participated in the training. The training aimed to strengthen the capacity of SEAFDEC Member Countries in understanding the concepts, drivers, and impacts of Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing losses, as well as to introduce practical methodologies and approaches for estimating the economic and resource losses caused by IUU fishing. Throughout the three-day Training, participants were introduced to key concepts and definitions of IUU fishing losses, FAO guidelines on methodologies and indicators for estimating the magnitude and impact of IUU...

The Meeting on the Preparation of the 2026–2027 Work Plan for the Implementation of the Sustainable Management of the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BOBLME II) Project was organized by SEAFDEC in collaboration with the Department of Fisheries on 12 May 2026 at the Department of Fisheries, Thailand. The meeting gathered 34 participants (16 females and 18 males) from DOF Thailand, IUCN and SEAFDEC to discuss the Year 3 work plan under the BOBLME II Project. The meeting was chaired by Ms. Wantana Jenkijkosol, Expert in Fishing Gears from the Marine Fisheries Research and Development Division and Thailand’s Project Steering Committee Member for the BOBLME II Project. The objectives of the meeting were to report the progress of the BOBLME II Project from January 2025 to June 2026, discuss and finalize the 2026–2027 work plan (July 2026–June 2027), review key challenges and priority activities, and strengthen coordination among DOF...

The Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC), under the BOBLME II Project, supported nine representatives (7 females and 2 males) to participate in the “Seas of Change: Shared Insights for Supporting Small-Scale Fisheries in the Gulf of Thailand and Bay of Bengal” meeting, convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on 26 April 2026 in Hua Hin, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand. This was followed by their participation in the 5th World Small-Scale Fisheries Congress (5WSSFC), held from 27 April to 1 May 2026 at the same venue. The Congress was co-hosted by TBTI Global in collaboration with its global network of hubs and partner organizations. The delegation was led by Ms. Panitnard Weerawat, Head of the Research and Development Division of SEAFDEC/Training Department (TD) and included SEAFDEC/TD staff and representatives from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The “Seas of Change” meeting brought together practitioners from the BOBLME...